Bruha Rognir was a participant in the “cat hunt”.

“Cat hunt” was a code word used among the bloodline when referring to the battle where the Friedel domain forces were annihilated. It came about because the cautious gray old man hadn’t designated an official operation name to minimize the possibility of problems.

It meant hunting those who had connections with the lion—Lennart—but weren’t the real deal—main family.

“Well, they were quite fierce for cats.”

They say that in fishing, the bigger and stronger the opponent, the more thrilling the catch, right?

For Bruha, the Friedel domain forces gave exactly that feeling.

While the bandits, who were just numerous but lacking in skill, would only burn like firewood or die while fleeing in all directions with each wave of Bruha’s hand, even the common soldiers of the Friedel domain forces didn’t lose their fighting spirit until the end.

Some knights, even while being surrounded and one-sidedly hit by attack magic, managed to break through the encirclement and cut down some mages.

Of course, that didn’t reverse the tide of battle.

The basic power itself was in favor of the Tower of Control side, and moreover, the tower knew all of Friedel’s movement routes and tactics.

Starting from an overwhelmingly losing situation, the struggles of some brave individuals couldn’t overturn the outcome.

Bruha, who mainly handled fire magic instead of ice that the Rognir bloodline often used, instantly burned a dozen soldiers who maintained a defensive formation prepared to die to protect their comrades, and poured fireballs on the head of a knight who had broken through the encirclement, turning him into a roast.

A battle fierce enough to give a thrilling feeling, yet with victory assured in the end, was truly enjoyable and sweet.

And now, another battlefield with assured victory awaited before Bruha’s eyes.

“Lord Bruha. New forces have been reinforced from the Hrunal domain.”

“So how many forces are in this castle now?”

“23 3rd rank mages, 92 2nd rank mages, 304 1st rank mages. 75 knights, 1,100 standing troops. This doesn’t include non-combat labor force or nearby domain people who could be conscripted if necessary.”

It was an absurd number and an absurd force.

While 1st rank mages might include many who wouldn’t even qualify as apprentices in other towers, 2nd rank mages or knights were people who could make a living anywhere else without any problem, which made it even more so.

A whistle escaped from Bruha’s mouth.

“Amazing. Couldn’t we win against most places if we just gathered and waged war among ourselves?”

“We’re gathering forces scattered across the country at various strategic points. According to the staff department’s predictions, we could defeat all cities below the top 5 major cities by Locrian Federation standards, or domains below the royal capital by Ionia Kingdom standards, on our own.”

“What about the Empire?”

“While we might manage smaller places, for baronial level domains, it would be wise to join with other units.”

“Still not to be underestimated, I see.”

While saying this, Bruha’s expression wasn’t bad.

That was because Bruha’s unit was just one of many units spread across the Tower of Control.

If Control, which was still only a fourth of the Magic State, could draw out this much power, how strong could they become after swallowing all the other towers?

How sweet would a war be that overwhelmed enemies with such strengthened power?

“If we had gradually built up our forces according to the tower head’s original plan, it would have been decades before I took to the battlefield. They said it was the Witch of the East’s apprentice who killed Jeras, Skoll, and Hati? I should thank those guys.”

Just as Bruha burst into laughter saying this, and his adjutant was about to laugh along.

The main gate of the castle where Bruha was staying.

The soldiers standing guard on the high castle walls noticed something strange.

“Hey, what’s that over there?”

“Huh? Where?”

“There, look, something’s moving. It looks like some kind of ship?”

“What the hell kind of ship, there’s not even a river let alone a sea nearby. It’s hard to see from this distance, but isn’t it just some big carriage or something?”

“No, I’m telling you it’s a ship!”

“This bastard’s lost his mind… Hey, what’s coming?”

Their argument didn’t continue to the end.

Something they each claimed was a ship or a carriage. A single dot that sprang out from that something was rushing towards the castle where they were with fierce momentum.

Only when that dot got somewhat closer could the soldiers see that it was a knight on horseback.

“What is it? A messenger? But the horse is huge.”

“No, wait. It’s not just big, it’s incredibly fast?”

Even when the unidentified knight approached right in front of the castle gate, the soldiers didn’t feel much sense of crisis.

That was because this was a castle guarded by thousands of troops.

It would be rather abnormal to think that just one knight suddenly visiting could do anything.

Anyway, since someone had come, they had to report it.

The soldiers shouted to the sergeant sitting in the guard post set up inside the castle wall.

“Sergeant! A knight has come to the main gate! There’s no flag or anything!”

“What? Just one?”

The sergeant showed a puzzled expression but approached the edge of the castle wall, perhaps thinking it might be someone important.

Meanwhile, the knight had already dismounted from the horse he had ridden and sent it back in the direction he had come from.

At this bizarre action that made no sense no matter how they looked at it, not only the soldiers but even the sergeant were momentarily dumbfounded and hesitated to act.

Right after that.

Grind grind grind!

A strange sound like stone being scraped echoed in their ears.

“W-what!?”

Those on top of the castle wall couldn’t see due to the angle.

That dozens of large grooves had appeared on the surface of the castle wall at regular intervals.

The Tin Knight, who had instantly created “footholds”, immediately began climbing the castle wall at a terrifying speed.

As the Tin Knight reached the top of the castle wall, the heads of the nearby soldiers and the sergeant separated from their bodies and soared into the air.

But they weren’t the only sentries guarding the wide castle wall, and soon other sentries shouted.

“E-enemy raid! An enemy raid—“

Slash!

The neck of the Tin Knight who had cut down all the soldiers on the castle wall in an instant.

The small skull attached to the necklace sang.

《Forward! Forward! The blood of the dirty old man is ahead!》

Following the skull’s guidance, which was quite helpful but not as much as a minimap, the Tin Knight began to sprint.

Of course, the enemies wouldn’t just leave that be.

“Here! The intruder is here!”

As befitting those preparing for war, the soldiers’ armament was excellent and their reaction speed was fast.

Towards the dozens of soldiers rushing at him, the Tin Knight charged without hesitation.

Thud!

The Tin Knight’s charge, with his entire body made of metal, was a sufficient weapon in itself.

The soldier who collided with the Tin Knight flew backwards with the sound of bones being crushed, and simultaneously, the soldiers’ spears stabbed the Tin Knight’s body, but attacks without mana couldn’t inflict more than scratches.

The Tin Knight, too, instead of wasting mana by using sword energy on such opponents, engaged in pure hand-to-hand combat.

He slashed with his sword, deflected attacks with his shield making them stab each other, trampled with his feet, and struck with his elbows.

Dozens of standing troops, not just conscripts who had just picked up weapons, but those who had been training regularly, were slaughtered in an instant.

And before that blood could even fully flow to the ground, all sorts of magic fell upon the Tin Knight’s head.

The Tin Knight threw his body sideways and rolled.

And he grasped a brick fragment created by the explosion.

Gauging the enemy’s position from the angle of the incoming attack and the flow of mana felt around, he threw the brick while getting up.

“Don’t stop the attack! Completely smash—“

Splat!

The head of the mage giving orders was instantly shattered.

The mages with him were flustered, wiping their faces covered in overflowing blood and brain matter.

It was a gap.

A gap created by unfamiliarity with war itself, regardless of magic skill.

The Tin Knight’s foot strongly slides against the ground.

Some spirits and magic dolls tried to block the Tin Knight’s path to protect their masters.

The Tin Knight’s eyes quickly scanned the enemies.

How much sword energy output was needed to cut off the neck of the magic doll in front, where the core of the spirit was located, which would be more helpful in confusing the battlefield between killing them instantly or killing them clumsily and causing them to go berserk.

It wasn’t an action taken by thinking about each thing in his head.

But the memory engraved in the Tin Knight’s body, that vast combat experience, calculated in the blink of an eye the optimal and most efficient action to take in this situation.

Once again, in an instant, the enemies were swept away.

The enemies were endless, but the Tin Knight acted freely unlike usual.

He, who didn’t need to restrict his range of action to protect someone, literally rampaged through the castle in all directions.

If he seemed to be cutting down enemies in the west, he suddenly appeared in the east, if he saw a vulnerable structure, he destroyed it to bury the enemy, and if the situation seemed a bit unfavorable, he fled to another place without hesitation.

“Where is he?! Where the hell has he hidden again?!”

Of course, if this had been an open plain, the situation wouldn’t have unfolded like this.

If he had engaged in a frontal battle against the mages, knights, and soldiers gathered in the castle, even the Tin Knight couldn’t have guaranteed victory.

But war wasn’t a game where the side with the higher total power won.

Even with thousands of troops, there was a limit to how many could fight in one place, and no matter how great the firepower of the mages, only a small portion of it could be poured on the Tin Knight who was popping out here and there.

It didn’t even take 30 minutes for the number of casualties, which was only three immediately after the start of the battle, to reach a hundred times that.

Above all, what was terrifying for the enemies was that despite moving so much, the Tin Knight’s movements didn’t slow down at all.

If a person had moved this much, they would have had problems like rough breathing or muscle strain, but the concept of fatigue didn’t exist for magic dolls.

No, even if it was an ordinary magic doll, various parts might have creaked like a machine operated without rest, but the Tin Knight’s body possessed a repair function.

Even if joints or other parts were strained and creaked, he could continue fighting while repairing as long as mana was poured in.

It was as if he had been designed from the start for such endless battles.

As the battle continued like that, exactly at the 30-minute mark.

《Resupply! Resupply! Main gate!》

Following the guidance of the skull necklace, the Tin Knight leapt out to the main gate where he had first broken in.

Simultaneously, a girl in white magician’s attire popped out of thin air where nothing had been before.

The girl, Gale, asked, “Is it retreat or continuation?”

The Tin Knight raised his right hand.

Gale smiled lightly, then placed her hand on the Tin Knight’s back and poured in mana.

It was Dorothea’s familiar mana.

“I’ll give you some service on the side.”

『Storage』

『Float』

『Bind』

Characters that floated around Gale’s body soon merged into one, turning into something like an orb of light that floated around the Tin Knight’s body.

And those orbs absorbed the amount of Dorothea’s mana that overflowed, unable to be fully contained by the Tin Knight’s vessel.

“If you feel you’re running low on mana, just break them and absorb. The conversion efficiency is low so it’s not usable without Dorothea’s support, but this should be best for you, right?”

The Tin Knight gave a thumbs up as if satisfied.

Gale slightly lifted her hat in greeting, then stomped on the castle wall parapet with her heel.

At the same time, Gale’s figure disappeared.

“Here, he’s here—gack!”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts to aim for a clean four-digit number!]

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken